


Coming Home

by emjam



Series: Rose Siblings [2]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Comby makes an appearance, Era 3, Family Feels, Fluff, Funland (Steven Universe), Gem OCs (not prevalent), Gen, Homeworld (Steven Universe), Identity Issues, Self-Discovery, Yellow Diamond's new power, the roses love each other a lot okay, what happens when you look exactly like a rebel leader
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:15:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25778773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emjam/pseuds/emjam
Summary: “Ahhh, I’m so excited to be here again!” Strawberry practically jumped up and down, ever the optimist. Or maybe she was just determined to have a good experience. “I missed this weird sand! Did you miss this sand?”“Yeah, it’s really chill, isn’t it?” At Quartz’s side, another Rose Quartz ran a hand through her almost-white hair and scrunched her bare toes around the granular material.Quartz tossed one of her abundant curls over her shoulder to get it to stop tickling her face. Something seemed different about the beach house off in the distance, though she couldn’t pinpoint it. The blue sky was still the same, though, and she smiled privately at it.or"Shy" Rose Quartz has some experiences on Earth and realizes that she needs a change.
Relationships: Hippie Rose Quartz & Shy Rose Quartz, Hippie Rose Quartz & Shy Rose Quartz & Superfan Rose Quartz, Shy Rose Quartz & Superfan Rose Quartz
Series: Rose Siblings [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1870126
Comments: 3
Kudos: 19





	Coming Home

**Author's Note:**

> This occurs in the same universe as Rose Siblings. This means that naming conventions are as follows:
> 
> Superfan Rose = Strawberry (related to an incident from the previous work).  
> Hippie Rose = Rose Quartz (she chose to keep her name).  
> Shy Rose = Quartz (she dropped the Rose from her name in this work, after expressing her wish not to have a name at all in the last work).
> 
> Other than that, there's not much in this work that alludes to the previous one. Barring a few lines, this could probably work as a standalone!

It’s been a while since Quartz stepped foot on this beach.

The sand accepted her feet willingly, pooling where her boots pushed into it. She looked down at the miniature grains of mineral and rock. No matter where the cruise ship had visited, no otherworldly sand looked exactly the same as Earth’s.

“Ahhh, I’m so excited to be here again!” Strawberry practically jumped up and down, ever the optimist. Or maybe she was just determined to have a good experience. “I missed this weird sand! Did you miss this sand?”

“Yeah, it’s really chill, isn’t it?” At Quartz’s side, another Rose Quartz ran a hand through her almost-white hair and scrunched her bare toes around the granular material.

Quartz tossed one of her abundant curls over her shoulder to get it to stop tickling her face. Something seemed different about the beach house off in the distance, though she couldn’t pinpoint it. The blue sky was still the same, though, and she smiled privately at it.

“Are you excited, Rose Quartz?” Strawberry practically yelled to her, despite being right next to her. She then pressed a belated hand to her mouth. “Oh. Sorry, Quartz.”

Quartz laughed despite the slip-up. “It’s okay. Yes, I’m excited.” Earth was a turbulent thing for her, given the history of her appearance, but Earth was also ever-changing where the cruise ship was often still.

“Of course she’s excited,” Rose Quartz said. “Let’s go do this thing.”

They headed over to the beach house. As it came closer and closer, Quartz realized why it looked different; it was. The entire front of the house looked newer than the rest, with cleaner planks and new reinforcements. There also wasn’t that odd gray human vehicle out front. In its place was a more colorful vehicle with human script on it that Quartz couldn’t decipher.

“Is it normal to do a ‘surprise’ visit?” Quartz quietly wondered as they climbed up the porch steps. “We won’t be interrupting anything, will we?”

“Don’t be silly,” Strawberry smiled widely. “Steven loves us! Even if he’s busy, we can always go have fun on the boardwalk and catch up with him after.”

“I’m down for that,” Rose Quartz added.

Quartz wasn’t as enthusiastic. “Yeah.” She rubbed her arm. She still wasn’t sure about this. But before she knew it, they were in front of the door and Strawberry was already being her extremely social self and knocking on it with abandon.

“Jeez, ‘Berry, don’t break the door down,” Rose Quartz laughed.

“Sorry!” Strawberry whispered. “I’m just -”

“Excited, we know,” Quartz finished with a teasing smile. Strawberry was always getting ahead of herself.

A voice that wasn’t Steven’s called out in response. “I’m coming!” Soon the door creaked open. “Sorry, I was -” Greg stopped in his tracks, flustered. “Oh! Uh, hey?”

Quartz winced. The last time she had seen him, he had cried because of her - not something she did, but just because of how she looked. That didn’t exactly endear her to a reunion. Meanwhile, Rose Quartz just waved, giving him an extremely laid-back greeting. “Hey. Nice to see you again, Greg.”

“I like your haircut!” Strawberry added.

Quartz didn’t know what to say, so she just stayed quiet.

“Oh, thanks, Strawberry.” Greg self-consciously ran his hand through his shorter hair. Quartz found herself wishing she could change hers up like that at will. Shapeshifting only lasted so long, and besides, she had no idea what she would change it to in the first place; her curls were just part of her shape. Greg cleared his throat. “What are you guys doing here?”

“We came to surprise Steven with a visit!” Strawberry offered. She peered over Greg’s shoulder. “Is he here?”

“Oh jeez. Actually, uh, he doesn’t live here anymore.”

That was something humans did? Live in a different place than they used to live? It made sense, but for some reason it came so far out of left field. Quartz’s brow furrowed. This visit was already proving more difficult than they wanted it to be.

“What does that mean?” Rose Quartz asked.

“Oh stars, he still _lives_ , right?” Strawberry panicked. “Please tell me that’s still something he does.”

Greg backed up, his bare foot eliciting a groan from the hardwood beneath it. He raised his hands in a placating nature. “Whoa, whoa, he’s fine! When humans ‘live’ somewhere, that just means that they, uh… live there?” He paused. “It means that they stay there. That that place is their home.”

“Oh,” Rose Quartz simply said. “So he has a different home now?”

“I guess you could say so. He’s taking a trip right now, so his car is his home.”

“Okay, I think I get it now!” Strawberry nodded. “So how do we visit this ‘car’?”

“Um. You’re gonna have to get in touch with him and see if he wants any visitors first.” Greg scratched his cheek. “Why? Is there something urgent? ‘Cause if there is, I can let the Crystal Gems know. Steven’s not really doing that stuff anymore.”

“No, it’s not urgent,” Quartz finally piped up, prompting her more vocal companions to look at her. “We just wanted to visit him and say hello. It’s alright if he’s busy.”

“Well -”

“Greg? Who are you talking to?” Came a Pearl’s voice from somewhere within the house.

Greg muttered something under his breath akin to ‘oh no.’ “Just some visitors, Pearl!” He called back.

“Oh, why didn’t you say so?” A thin, sharp Pearl - the renegade Crystal Gem Pearl - headed down the stairs and popped into view by the doorway. “Maybe it’s -” she stopped at the sight of the three Rose Quartzes, her mouth twisting as if she had just sucked on one of the sour fruits that grew on the cruise ship. “Uh, hello, you three. How can we help you?” At least she sounded polite.

When Quartz was a younger Gem, she had looked up to _the_ Rose Quartz, the one that seemed to define their typing. That Gem had carved out the Rose Quartz’s name, staked it as her own, and planted her banner beneath it. Being one of the very few same-cuts, sharing her face, Quartz almost considered her a mentor figure. Some Gems didn’t even know that Rose Quartzes as a class of Gem existed - they only knew of the definitive, the loving rebel. Quartz stopped idolizing her the second everyone caught wind that they would probably be shattered for their resemblance to her. Their name had been ripped from them before they had a chance to use it.

This Pearl was not to blame for Pink Diamond’s choices, but it was hard to know how to act around her.

Quartz wilted into the background as Strawberry steamrolled forward. “Hi, Pearl! We just wanted to visit our sibling Steven. But Greg just told us that Steven homes in a car now?” Confusion muddied her features. “So I’m not sure if we can visit him anymore.”

“Oh! Well, that’s up to Steven. If you want, you can ask him yourself.” Her pearl glowed, and she produced a small rectangular object out of it. “Greg, can you show them how to use it? I should go finish helping Garnet. I was really just up here to grab something.” She passed the thin, delicate-looking object over to Greg’s waiting hand. “And don’t -”

“Don’t worry Pearl, I won’t read your notifications,” Greg assured her with an amused smile.

“Thank you, Greg.” She patted his shoulder and threw a tense smile to the Rose Quartzes. It made Quartz want to dissipate her own cursed form. “It’s lovely to see you again.”

The Rose Quartzes returned her sentiments and watched her leave.

“Okay,” Greg started. “You can come in if you want. No reason to be standing around on the porch, I guess.”

They followed him into the house and huddled around the thin object in the human’s hands.

“Is it a communicator?” Rose Quartz asked. Strawberry tried to touch it, but Quartz gently guided her hands away.

“Yeah, exactly!” Greg affirmed. “I’ll just open this up.” He scrolled past a bunch of boxed text that he didn’t even read, and tapped on something that enveloped the screen in a green-and-white interface with human script on it. “Here’s Steven’s number. Do you want to call him now?”

“That would be smart,” Quartz said. “We don’t know how long we’ll be here, so we should ask him about this while we’re here.”

“Okay.” Greg turned the phone around and presented it to the three interested faces in front of him. “So just tap the green circle and it’ll call him. Lemme put it on speaker for ya.” He pressed another mystery button and handed it to them. “There you go! Give it back when you’re done, I gotta finish my lunch, sorry.”

After Greg walked off to what Quartz might be remembering correctly as the ‘kitchen’, the three of them gathered around the tiny device. It was small in Rose Quartz’s big hands. “I guess I just press this?” And then a ringtone sounded out.

_“Hello!”_ Came Steven’s cheery voice, prompting the Rose Quartzes to respond in turn. But for some reason, he kept going. _“You’ve reached my voicemail inbox. Sorry that I missed your call. To leave me a message, just say what you want to say and end the call. I’ll get your message and respond to you as soon as possible!”_ A shrill beep followed.

“Oh.” Quartz slumped slightly. “It’s an automatic system.”

“That’s okay!” Strawberry bumped their shoulders together. “We can just tell him to meet us!” She redirected her attention back to the phone. “Hi Steven, it’s us!”

“It’s Strawberry, Rose Quartz, and Quartz,” Rose Quartz clarified helpfully. “We wanna know if you wanna hang out for a bit. We’re on Earth right now and we wanna see you!”

The two of them turned to look at Quartz. “Oh. Um. We miss you, Steven. Let us know if you want us to visit. No pressure.”

“No pressure!” Strawberry repeated. “Okay, uh, bye!”

“How do you turn it off?” Rose Quartz murmured.

“I think it’s -” Quartz gently took the communicator from her friend and pressed a red button. Another beep sounded and the screen returned to a display that just held Steven’s face and a bunch of human text. “I think that worked?”

“Uh. Hey, Greg, I think we’re done,” Rose Quartz called. The human in question was scraping some sort of concoction out of a pan and onto a plate. He started, but soon got over his surprise.

“Oh, good! What’d he say?”

“He didn’t say anything. We had to make a… ‘voicemail,’” she explained.

“Jeez. Okay, well, I have to get Pearl’s phone back to her.” Greg abandoned his plate to walk over and grab the phone. “I’ll just have her let you guys know if Steven responds. Uh, where can she find you?”

All three of them looked at each other. A grin slowly stretched across Strawberry’s face. “Boardwalk?” She said to them. “Oh! I could show you Funland!”

“Wait, hold on, you’ll need money for that.” Greg fished his wallet out of his jeans and pushed a few slices of material with unknown script on them into Strawberry’s hand.

“Oops! I forgot about that part of Earth.” She smacked her forehead with a giggle, her fingers creasing the money. “Silly Rose Quartz.”

“Well, that should be enough for rides and - I guess you guys don’t eat food?”

Rose Quartz shrugged. “I like how it feels sometimes.”

“Well, there’s enough for that too. Off you go, kiddos.”

The three Rose Quartzes thanked him at varying levels of volume, Strawberry calling him ‘my dad,’ and then loudly descended the steps the way they had come. Greg put his head in his hands and caught his breath. _Oh boy_. “Why did I call them kiddos?” He muttered. “They’re way older than me.”

* * *

Surrounded by the loud colors and noises of Funland, Quartz felt very young. Gems don’t technically age, but she felt young in the sense that she was out of her element and unsure - not that she was really ever _in_ her element. The environment of the cruise ship tried so hard to prove that it wasn’t what it used to be - a prison that maintained ignorance for its humans and a holding space for its Rose Quartzes - that it seemed almost disingenuous in a way. No one wanted to talk about it. Everyone just wanted to jump in the water and eat new foods and make the best of all the years that they missed. It could be fun sometimes, but staying quiet never addressed the turmoil Quartz felt at the mention of their old Diamond. She talked about it with Rose and Strawberry sometimes, but they all needed their breaks from the topic.

“R - I mean, Quartz, you coming?”

Oh. Rose and Strawberry already went ahead, getting some kind of bracelet for them all to wear. Rose Quartz was looking back, her thick eyebrows raised in Quartz’s direction.

“Sorry, I must have gotten distracted.” She stepped forward to join them.

“It’s okay. Here, hold out your arm.”

She did, and Rose Quartz wrapped the flat material around Quartz’s wrist, sticking the end of it to itself with some kind of built-in adhesive. Rose Quartz always ran warmer than her or Strawberry, and Quartz felt it at Rose’s easy touches. Once the item was attached, Rose Quartz ran a friendly hand up and down Quartz’s arm as a grounding comfort. Quartz shot her a grateful smile.

“So now that we have these wrist things, we can do any of this stuff?” Rose Quartz asked.

Strawberry, the resident expert on Funland, was practically vibrating with excitement. “Yeah! They’re made of paper and they’re for ‘admission.’”

“So we’re admissed. Nice.”

“What do you want to do first?” Quartz asked.

“Hmm. How about…” Strawberry hummed, then an idea hit her, her eyes lighting up. “I can show you two how I got my name!”

This was how they ended up at an ice-cream stand.

“I’ve never eaten anything before,” Quartz muttered at the pink swirl of ice cream that sat perfectly on her waffle cone. Something about the ice cream made her nervous. She never thought of using her mouth for anything other than speaking.

“You’ll probably wanna shapeshift a stomach for that,” the yellow Gem running the stand informed her, pulling up a diagram printed on some sort of organic material. It had the shape of organs. Presumably, it was a stomach.

Quartz was exceptionally good at shapeshifting. She had a lot of practice with it. She closed her eyes and focused on the inside of her body, and then she took a tentative lick of the ice cream.

“This is the flavor I got my name from!” Strawberry happily told her and Rose. She was demolishing the little ice cream cone in her hand. “Isn’t it good?”

Rose Quartz hummed appreciatively. “I like that it matches us.”

The food was chillier than she thought it would be. It settled cold in her new stomach, an interesting feeling. “This tastes great, Strawberry.” Though she wished she had tried a different flavor - but she didn’t want to disrupt the group.

Once their ice creams were gone, they kept meandering, walking past all sorts of unfamiliar structures and beings. Gems and humans of all kinds played and worked and chatted amongst themselves. Railed contraptions rose out of the earth, carrying carts and spinning wheels and various flashy bits and bobs. They all seemed a bit intense.

“How about that?” Quartz pointed at a large circular object. It held carts but unlike many of the other entertainment options, it didn’t rush. It gently circled up and down, bringing its inhabitants along a calm ride.

“Yeah, that looks nice,” Rose Quartz agreed, deliberately brushing her fingers across Quartz’s broad shoulders in an understanding gesture. It was supposed to be reassuring, a show of acceptance for Quartz’s hesitance with the faster aspects of Funland, but Quartz just hunched her shoulders in response and climbed after them into the mouth of a cart.

Everyone rubbed arms and legs with each other in an attempt to make the most of the wrapped-around seating. Clearly organics were not usually the size of Rose Quartzes, but Quartz didn’t mind the contact.

Once the ride lurched and stuttered into a start, it cradled all of them to the top, and the view was incredible.

Earth’s ocean stretched out into oblivion, rays from the closest star glinting white off the water. Below them, all the Gems and people were little more than dots, a smeared sea of color. The air had a high salt content and tickled Quartz’s curls. Above the surface of their home planet, with her friends bumping knees and shoulders together, everything seemed at peace.

“This is what I missed most about Earth,” Strawberry breathed, and even though Quartz couldn’t articulate the exact meaning of the sentiment, she had missed it too.

* * *

“Hello, Rose Quartzes!”

All three of them shot their heads up. There was the ‘renegade’ Pearl, her face pinched but not exactly rude. She raised the phone in her hand in explanation.

“Steven messaged me in response to your voicemail.” She navigated her device for a moment. “Can you read any Earth languages?”

They shook their heads sheepishly.

“Oh. I suppose I can just read it to you.” Pearl recited the contents of Steven’s message, clearly suppressing her facial expressions as she read to them. When she was done, the air hung empty and uncomfortable between her and the Quartzes.

“...Oh.” Strawberry was so quiet. She was never quiet, and Quartz frowned. “Well, that’s okay. I guess we came at a bad time.”

“Everyone needs to do their own thing. I get it,” Rose Quartz shrugged with a small measure of dejection. “We’re kind of a hot-button topic. Nothing we can do about that.”

Quartz just curled and uncurled her fingers around the arm of the bench they were all sitting on, finding it hard not to crush it to pieces under her palm. “He doesn’t want to see us.” It was true.

_It’s not your fault. I’m just in a really rocky place right now and focusing on myself. I haven’t seen a lot of Gems for months now even though I love them. But I still love them and I still love you. I just have to be on my own for a bit. We should catch up next time you’re on Earth._ The message had been followed by four small images of pink hearts.

He had said it wasn’t their fault. Still, Quartz still felt a flare of guilt at being something that could ever hurt Steven in the first place.

“Now, that’s not true at all!” Pearl spread her long fingers out, attempting to comfort. “Sure, he _said_ that he doesn’t want to see you right now -” she bit her tongue. “But it's simply because unknowingly, you could cause a flare-up of his recent… issues.”

The three Rose Quartzes turned their rejected faces to Pearl. Apparently the injury was obvious.

“Not to mean that he doesn’t _want_ to see you!” She was making no sense, tossing her thin phone device from hand to hand. “He just knows he probably shouldn’t. If it helps, what I mean is…” Her fingers interlocked in nerves. “Well, he probably shouldn’t see me right now either. Nor many of the other Gems he knows and loves. He is taking this trip to stabilize himself.”

Steven doesn’t want to see the Pearl either?

Quartz blinked at the cobblestone path beneath her boots as she tightened her other hand on Rose Quartz’s shoulder. That information put the rejection into context just a bit.

“That makes more sense. Thank you for the information,” Quartz said.

Mouth worming into a strained line, Pearl just nodded, her posture stiff, body screaming for an escape.

While Rose and Strawberry composed a returning message, Quartz’s fingers curled deep indents into the bench’s armrest.

* * *

“I know. But I need to do this alone.”

Even though Quartz was explaining to the best of her ability, Rose Quartz and Strawberry still clung to each of her arms like seaweed. Confused, concerned seaweed.

“You know we’ll support whatever you do,” Rose started, tracing little designs onto the projected skin of Quartz’s arm with a finger. Quartz would miss that. “But we just wanna make sure you’ll be safe.”

“Please don’t go,” Strawberry cried, and it was terrible when she did that. “Who else is going to let me ramble about Earth history to her?” Even as she hiccupped with tears, she drew a laugh out of both of her friends when she added, “Rose Quartz falls asleep the second I start talking about it.”

“To be fair, I fall asleep at a lot of things.” Rose Quartz didn’t stop warmly holding Quartz’s arm even when engaging in Strawberry’s banter.

Quartz smiled softly. “You fell asleep in your hole the second you emerged.”

“Hey, I was tired. Emerging takes work, you know.” Rose Quartz’s words were unusually tight. Tense.

Quietly, she responded, “I feel like I have never stopped doing the work of emerging, and it still doesn’t make sense.”

Rose Quartz forwent the arm-doodling in favor of one unmoving hand on top of Quartz’s. “That’s why you’re doing this.”

“Oh, Quartz…” Strawberry couldn’t hold back anymore. She wrapped her arms around her friend. “I’m so sorry. Everything sucks.”

They all know what she meant. Life for them was going from work they didn’t quite understand to punishment they didn’t quite understand, and then dropped into a new world and made to face the consequences of things they never even had anything to do with. Being a spitting image of _her_ only made everything worse for Quartz. Every Rose Quartz back in Era 1 wondered at some point what the existence of _the_ Rose Quartz meant - should they emulate her? Fear her? Would it even change the consequences of their rebel lineage? But no matter what the others chose to do about it, Quartz herself would always look just like The Rebel.

“I appreciate it. I - I appreciate you two so much.” She found her eyes watering. She wouldn’t go back on this decision, though. She couldn’t. “I’ll call when I can, alright? Just tell Y-6 to keep an eye out for any communicator signals from Homeworld.”

Strawberry sniffed, but tears had stopped rolling down her cheeks. “Okay, sis.”

“We usually block those now, so thanks for the heads-up,” Rose added as she took Quartz into her soft, warm arms. Quartz was now suffocating under two warriors’ hugs, and she soaked up the feeling. She wouldn’t have access to it for a while.

* * *

So this was Homeworld.

It was certainly both a world and home to many, many Gems, but it unsurprisingly did not read as home to Quartz.

Despite more organic and freeform touches to new infrastructure, the majority of Homeworld looked much like she expected it to look: sleek, streamlined, all hard-cut corners and blinding reflective surfaces. Like a colorful sheet of ice.

Her boots made an insignificant dull clack as she stepped off an intergalactic warp pad, one of many that littered the traffic hall. Bodily projections flooded the tall, arching room. Unlike on Earth, she was in a sea of pure Gem. Some types she had never even seen in person before were now running past her to the next item on their schedule.

As far as she knew, she was the only true Rose Quartz to ever set foot on Homeworld.

That feeling turned uneasily within her. Each step put more and more distance between her and the warp pads. Just take it one decision at a time; that had been Rose’s advice.

“Number?”

She halted at the exit gates. Somehow she was drawing a blank at her own facet identification. The wine-red Ruby manning the booth looked up from her screen for a moment, and then could not stop looking. “Rose Quartz?!”

Quartz only just stopped herself from saying ‘no.’ “I - I’m sorry. It’s Facet 5 Cut 9HJ,” she nearly whispered.

Ruby finally tore her gaze away from Quartz to hum at her screen. “Oh, I see. An Earth Rose Quartz, from the Prime K.” She bit her lip. “Um. I can’t say I’ve ever seen one of you before! Do - do all of you have the curls?”

Quartz just blinked, unwilling to dredge up a response.

A cough. “Right. Sorry.” Her fingers nervously jabbed at the inputs on her device. “You’re logged up, enjoy your stay! Next!”

Exhaling despite no need to draw breath, Quartz slid past the on-worlding gates and emerged out into the complex streets of homeworld. Architect and planner Gems were supposed to do their jobs perfectly like all other Gems, but she was somehow convinced that Homeworld designers tossed comprehension to the wind on this one. It had a system that must function well, but Quartz couldn’t see it.

A tour group headed by an Agate rushed past. A cluster of Aquamarines flew off to who-knew-where. A… sentient wall? wobbled around, crossing Quartz’s path.

Where was she even supposed to start?

She caught the arm of a passing Gem. “Excuse me, do you know the way to the Diamonds’?”

The Pearl stiffened at the sight of her and pulled away, leaving her without a response. Oh. Okay.

Quartz was left to wander.

* * *

Many of these constructs and spires were abandoned, possibly due to the restructuring of Homeworld’s hierarchy. Half the doorways she passed through led her to an empty hall, or a room occupied by a single Gem or two that wished to be left alone. Her feet carried her to what seemed like the epicenter of Homeworld, bearing tall castles and body-part-esque ships and looming courtyards. Colorful buildings reached up and scraped the sky. Quartz hesitated outside a massive stretch of cool marble, a courtyard whose Diamond colors had all been removed, if the empty Diamond-shaped holes in the tiles were anything to go by. Sleek steps led up to a plateau where a blue Zircon and a handful of accompanying Gems stood. Below them on ground level was a fairly large crowd of Gems, some holding notepad screens.

Curious, Quartz entered the courtyard.

“...I plan on installing these new structures to help all Gems discover their place in this intimidating new Era,” the Zircon was saying, sweeping out with one arm. She must have rehearsed for this. “And more than that, I am working with Tetragonal Bismuth here to repurpose abandoned and misused warp pads, spires, pathways, and artwork. There will be no more crumbling statues, nor unused architecture -” Zircon’s eyes passed over her crowd. When she got to Rose Quartz, she stuttered, eyes wide. “A-and I, ah, would like to invite Tetra Bismuth to address your questions about these future architectural plans. Thank you.”

As an off-color Bismuth took Zircon’s place at the forefront of the plateau with a sheepish grin - clearly unused to handling a crowd - Zircon rushed down the steps with fervor, stopping only when she made it to the back of the gathering of Gems, where Quartz stood.

Was she supposed to salute? According to broadcasts, this Zircon was the new elected official of Homeworld. Quartz settled for a queasy smile. “I liked the part about rebuilding this place,” she tried. “That’s smart.”

“Thank you,” came the automatic response. “But what are you doing here?”

“Me? I’m -”

“Steven, I thought you had no time to visit Homeworld.” Her tone devolved into panic. “If I had known you would be here, I would have -”

“Wait, no!” Quartz shook her head, her curls following suit. “Please. I’m not Steven. I have nothing to do with Rose Quartz. I just emerged looking this way.”

Zircon stopped, her hands fluttering frantically in front of her. She flushed a deep, embarrassed blue. “Oh. Oh! Oh my stars, I do sincerely apologize. I don’t know why Steven would even show up in that form in the first place, but the resemblance and the Gem placement, I just -”

“I understand,” Quartz assured. “Really.”

“Good! I deeply apologize.” Zircon adjusted her monocle with a discerning eye. “I thought that all remaining Rose Quartzes were stationed on the Zoo ship? N-not stationed, we don’t ‘station’ anyone anymore, but - you know what I mean.”

“We ‘live’ on the cruise ship, yes. I am just visiting Homeworld. For the first time, actually.”

“Well, i-it’s quite a time to be here,” Zircon laughed nervously. “I put together my campaign the best I could, but I’m still not sure how to handle… everything. You will see many changes, some even in the first decade. Uh, hopefully.” She seemed much more put together than when she had first approached Quartz. “I do hope you enjoy your stay. Homeworld can be pretty, especially to an outsider.” She looked out almost wistfully at the gorgeous spires in the distance, seeming to rise up out of the perfect courtyard tiling in an interesting optical illusion.

“It’s beautiful,” Quartz agreed truthfully. It was a different type of beauty, a non-organic elegance, but it was still incredible to see.

Blue Zircon turned back to her. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Rose Quartz,” she said, managing not to stumble over the name. “I should probably get back to my address now.”

“Oh - wait!” Quartz exclaimed, surprising herself.

The Zircon turned around with a hesitant smile. “Yes?”

“Do you know how to get an audience with Yellow Diamond?”

* * *

Another long, arching hall with glittering tilework and angular, artistic columns. This one was not very populated, only hosting a few tour groups out by the former Diamond thrones. Thankfully, though, there was what looked to be a help center nearby, a little desk at which a Hessonite was seated.

Quartz walked up to the carved yellow desk. On it, next to the Hessonite’s screen, a small comb rested. She stared at the sparse desk contents instead of making eye contact with the Hessonite. “Um, hello,” she started.

“Hello!” The Hessonite chirped back cheerfully. “Are you here for a tour? The next one starts shortly.”

“Actually, no. I -”

“Your hair is so pretty,” the comb interrupted.

What?

Looking closer, there were two eyes, a nose, and a little mouth on the circular end of the comb. Was that a Gem? What kind of Gem was that?

She decided to respond regardless, self-consciously tugging on a curl that sprung back into place when she let it go. “I… thank you.”

“Are you sure about the tour?” Hessonite pushed. “Aubergine Pearl is heading the next one, and her tour slots are very sought-after.”

The comb added, “She’s an expert on the inner workings of the former Diamond palace!”

“Thank you, Comby,” Hessonite smiled. “I always forget something.”

These two didn’t seem to know even a shard about Rose Quartz, or what she allegedly looked like. It was new. It was refreshing.

“Thank you two for your help, but I’m actually looking for a way to make a meeting with Yellow Diamond.”

“Oh!” The Hessonite picked up her screen. “She doesn’t really do appointments anymore - even her scheduled form adjustments are more on her terms than anything. I am not quite sure how I could get a hold of her.”

Comby piped up in her small, high voice. “The pink Spinel would know! She’s good at talking with the Diamonds.”

“That’s right!” She typed something out on her device and sent it. “I’ll see if I can get her over here, how about that?”

“Thank you so much,” Quartz murmured.

It wasn’t long before a pink Spinel quite literally bounced over, springing off her curled-up arms and legs. She landed soundlessly next to the Hessonite’s desk. “What’s up, Hess? Where’s the fire?” Her hand curled into the shape of a firehose and she pretended to spray Hessonite and Comby with water.

‘Hess’ giggled. “No fire, Spinel. Someone’s here for your help!”

“For me?!” The bright and spry Spinel put a hand to her Gem. “Oh boy! Who’s -” She turned towards Quartz, and her firehose arm blatantly deflated, pooling into a noodle on the ground. “Ro - uh, hello!”

“Hello,” Quartz responded.

“Is this, uh, some sorta shapeshifting game? ‘Cause I’m usually all for those, but -”

“I’m one of the Earth Rose Quartzes.” She was getting tired of explaining herself.

Spinel’s deflated arm filled back up, returning to her side as normal. “Oh, ha, that makes much more sense. Sorry!” Suddenly, she wrapped one malleable arm around Quartz’s shoulders and pulled her in close, speaking out of the side of her mouth. “Sometimes things are a lil’ touchy about the RQs ‘round here.”

“Oh.”

“No worries, though! What can I do ya for, friend?”

Quartz softened at the term ‘friend.’ “I’m actually trying to see Yellow Diamond.”

“Why? Did she wrong you in the past? Are ya tryin’ to shatter her?”

She blinked.

“You’d be surprised at the types we get comin’ in,” Spinel shrugged, using her arm to steer them away from the help desk and deeper into the bowels of the castle. They entered an intricate, empty hall with windows that stretched up to the ceiling. A shortcut, maybe - no one was using it.

“Um. No shattering. I have a request for her new power.”

“Oh, I love that thing!” Her new ‘friend’ gushed. “It’s so fun.”

“Fun? Wasn’t she using it to restore shattered Gems?” Her mouth caught on the word ‘shattered,’ taking a second to move on.

“Yeah, that too. I love it when Yellow makes my arms all big an’ beefy. It’s pretty funny considering I’m basically all noodles.”

Nodding along incomprehensibly, Quartz stepped in line with the Spinel as they approached a squat doorway. Spinel pressed one gloved hand to the scanner and it slid open.

If the other halls had tall ceilings, this one was endless.

Yellow and sepia burned her eyes. Monochrome was not something Quartz was used to, even on the overwhelming pink of the cruise ship; there were always plants and Amethysts and other things to break up the monotone. At least this room had some plants too, but there were no colorful Gems popping out against the yellow in this room. Just the pink of Spinel and a yellow Gem larger than life.

Yellow Diamond.

“Y-ello’!” Spinel called out in greeting. The massive Gem turned away from her desk, putting down a large pair of tweezers.

“Oh, there you are, Spinel. Where did you run off to?” The twinkle in the Diamond’s eye died at the sight of Quartz. “And who is this?”

“I was off getting us a guest!” Spinel tugged on Quartz’s arm, pulling her forward. “This is, uh, what’s your name again?”

No one’s asked her that yet. “Quartz. Please.”

“Quartz! She’s here with a question about your new power.”

“Oh? And what would a Rose Quartz from the ‘cruise’ ship be doing on Homeworld?” At least that piqued Yellow’s interest, taking precedence over the discomfort about Quartz’s form. She held out her arm expectantly, planting her huge hand on the ground in front of them. Cautiously, Quartz stepped onto her fingers while Spinel climbed on with abandon. They were both lifted until they were face-to-face with Yellow Diamond.

“I’m sorry to interrupt like this,” Quartz started quietly.

“Don’t be,” Yellow dismissed. “This project will take quite some time. A break is welcome.”

Glancing down at the table, Quartz was shocked to see a massive pile of crushed and splintered Gem shards, all intermixed and combined. She swallowed. “I see.”

“So what is your issue, Rose Quartz?” Yellow asked.

Quartz winced. Might as well jump in. “That is part of it. You can probably tell that I bear a strong resemblance to the form that Pink decided to take when she created the Rebellion.” She looked away and rubbed her arm, unwilling to watch Yellow’s face fall at the mention of her lost family member. “It has been very difficult to navigate Era 3 like this. I hope that you can help me.”

Yellow hummed. “You wish for me to change your form?”

She nodded, staring down at the thin grooves in Yellow’s fingers.

“I understand the problem. However, this is unprecedented.” Her face tensed in thought. “Typically Gems benefit from my power when their form has been altered, malfunctioning, or destroyed. I have never changed a theoretically perfect Gem before.”

“You can’t do it?”

“No, I can. I must wonder, though… There is no other form for your Gem cut to naturally take. What did you have in mind? A different Rose Quartz cut, perhaps?”

The name felt like a slap every time. What _did_ she have in mind? She imagined returning to Strawberry and Rose sporting Strawberry’s deep pink tufts, or Rose’s darker skin, and shook her head. That would feel wrong somehow. She’s done plenty of shapeshifting in her spare time, sometimes with her friends around, and what she experiments the most with is her hair. Sometimes when she changes it, it’s to a shorter bob-like style that forces her curls to lie flatter.

“I suppose we could start with my hair, please.”

“Ooh, that’ll be fun!” Spinel cheered.

“Very well.” Yellow put Quartz and Spinel down on the table, thankfully very far away from the field of shards. “What would you like?”

Quartz shifted her hair to a short cut that poofed around her face in a mere shadow of her wild curls. Unlike her natural hair, long strands didn’t tangle over her back. There were only short wavy wisps that framed her cheeks. It was like a weight off her shoulders. “This, please, if possible.”

“Of course.” A tap to Quartz’s shoulder, an electrifying buzz, and the change was permanent.

“Oh, lovely choice!” Spinel fawned over the new look. She shaped her hands into combs and hairspray bottles and hovered over Quartz like a hairdresser would. “Do we got a mirror in here? We don’t? Well, that’s a problem.But no worries, I’ll show ya how it looks.” Suddenly, a mirror image of Quartz stood in front of her, complete with a fake gem at the navel of her stocky form. The new hairdo was exactly what she had wanted, if Spinel’s faithful recreation was anything to go by.

“Yes!” A smile finally broke open on Quartz’s face. “That’s exactly it. Thank you for showing me, Spinel.”

“‘Course!” She shifted back to her normal rubber-bandy self. “I’m great with stretchin’, but not so good at holding another form completely. Another minute or so and I might’ve pulled something!”

“Please don’t.”

Yellow’s voice rang out high above them. “How is that working for you, Rose Quartz?”

“It’s just Quartz,” she finally corrected. “And it’s wonderful. I appreciate it very much.”

“It does suit you. I will say, however, that with your form, you still look so much like…” She clears her throat. ”Are there any other changes you would like to enact? And I would like this decision to be quick, I do not have forever to correct these shard pieces.”

Right. She probably should care about wasting a Diamond’s time… Probably.

“Well?” Spinel clasped her hands together, expecting something. “What else would ya like?” She seemed excited to witness Yellow’s powers in action once more. And maybe that was the final tiny push Quartz needed to make this decision.

She had told Steven that she didn’t want to be a Rose Quartz. That was true. Her Gem couldn’t be changed, no matter who tried to fix it, but something that could change was her hue. Pinkness gave her away every time. It followed her everywhere, on the ship and on Earth. Perhaps for once she could be somewhere where people wouldn’t recognize her. Perhaps the tethers to Rose Quartz could finally be cut. She could walk out of the palace a new Gem.

Her mouth opened to ask for the change, but then just as quickly closed. What about Strawberry? What about her own Rose Quartz, the one that liked digging her feet in the sand and writing meandering songs? They liked being pink. They liked strawberry ice cream and the closeness that came from their shared heritage. They weren’t the only ones; so many other Rose Quartzes considered the Rebel to be a source of pride for their Gem line, even after it was revealed that she hadn’t been one of them after all. Even the ones that hated Pink Diamond for what she’d done usually found joy in reclaiming their typing.

Quartz didn’t like being pink, not unless it brought her closer to Steven and Strawberry and Rose. But did she really need to be pink to be close with them? No. She just needed to be herself. Her own Quartz. And no matter what she chose today, she would always have that shared lineage, that combined launching point that created a family for her. She could preserve her pinkness, or not. It wouldn’t change that fact.

“I know what I would like to do next.”

* * *

“We miss you!” Strawberry shouted.

“You don’t have to yell, you goof, the mic’s right there,” Rose said.

“But I need her to feel my love all the way over at Homeworld!”

“Don’t worry, Strawberry, I feel it,” Quartz assured, smiling freely through the video lens in a way that crinkled her projection around her eyes. “How’s the ship?”

“Same-old, same-old.” Rose waved her hand. “X-5, U-8, and Skinny Jasper all choosened each other, though. That was really sweet.”

“Aw, they’ve been working up to that for so long. Please tell them I’m happy for them.”

“I know, right?” Strawberry sighed. “They’re all so cute together. We stopped by that ocean planet to celebrate. Lots of water fights.”

“I miss those.” Quartz wasn’t always a fan of water fights, but sharing the activity with others was the real value in it.

“Does Homeworld have water?” Rose Quartz asked.

She shook her head. “Not for eons, apparently. That might be a good thing. Zircon’s already losing her mind over how to best re-allocate every other resource. Water would really throw her.”

“Oh, how’s the ol’ boss?” Strawberry chirped as she leaned back in her chair, unable to keep herself from tapping out a pattern on the armrests.

Quartz snickered. “She’s not _that_ old! We’re older than her! But she’s well. She’s really growing into her officialship. I’m glad to help.”

“You do like it there, right?” Rose lazily curled a finger around her hair, but she still looked concerned.

“Yes, I’m enjoying myself,” she smiled. “Zircon keeps me busy. I’ve been helping Tetra Bismuth work with residents to restructure the architectural grid system.”

“Blah, blah, blah, you’re losing me,” Rose joked, pretending to roll her eyes, whereas Strawberry looked absolutely delighted.

“Oh my gosh! You have to tell me all about it later.” Strawberry rocked forward in her seat. “If you need any of my Earth media about cities, let me know! Organics do so many crazy things with them.”

“If you send me them, I’ll pass them on to Zircon and Tetra for sure. They need all the help they can get.”

They continued to swap stories for a while, until a notice came up on her screen. “I’m sorry, guys. I have to go to work now.”

“Okay, Quartzy!” Strawberry made a heart-shape with her hands, something she had picked up at some point during an Earth visit. “Don’t forget, we love you and you’re beautiful!”

“We’re so proud of you. Don’t forget to have some fun!” Rose waved to the camera.

After their goodbyes were over with, Quartz left her quarters and was met with the bustling rush of Homeworld. She walked to the building that held Zircon’s office and gladly climbed each step up to the door. Inside, Zircon and her party were just getting settled.

“Hey, Quartz!” Tetra Bismuth called warmly to her. “Glad you’re here, I was about to freak over these plans without your help.” She held up a stack of screens with a wry smile.

Quartz laughed lightly in return. “Don’t worry, I’m here to save the day.” She accepted half the stack with one blue hand.

“Oh, hello, Quartz!” Zircon piped up. “I’m glad you could make it. We’re just about to get started here…”

As Zircon projected out their plans for the day, Quartz listened well and jotted down some notes.

Following Steven’s footsteps had been the right decision - to go where no one would know her, and learn what that meant. To the untrained eye, her form was unrecognizable as a Rose Quartz. In this way, she was finally free from that name, that title, that brand.

No one called her Rose anymore. Quartz was just her name, and no one said otherwise. Some asked questions about her gem type, but that was happening less and less with the public understanding of off-colors. Her skin and her short, light hair took after the pure crystalline blue of Beach City’s ocean from above. Even though her Gem was still that familiar soft, dusty pink, Quartz was blue now too, and it didn’t feel at all like a betrayal of her family or her lineage.

It felt like coming home.


End file.
